Porsche Design, Reimagined by Emil Baddal

Between Porsche's financial troubles and the lukewarm reception of its Panamera sedan, the company has faced its share of problems in recent months. Unfortunately, there's no simple fix for the global economic problems that have sent Porsche's sales through the floorboard. On the design front, however, bringing new blood into the fold might help Porsche tighten up its increasingly watered-down brand. Case in point: this Porsche supercar concept whipped up by Iranian designer Emil Baddal. Admittedly, it's not perfect, and it may veer a little too close to Porsche's Bugatti and Lamborghini cousins. But compared to the Panamera... [DesignerSpace via Autoblog]

Yes, the styling of the Panamera sedan was something of a disppointment and the rather expensive car had the misfortune to be introduced during serious global economic recession. But Porsche deserves credit for taking a risk with its Panamera and let's not forget that the Panamera platform could become the basis for more stylish 2+2 coupe and convertible bodystyles.
Compared to yet another overpriced exotic like the Emil Baddal supercar, the Panamera makes a lot more sense. Especially during an economic recession when even the people who can afford to buy exotic supercars are choosing not to flaunt their wealth. And let's not forget that Porsche's last exotic, the Carrera GT, was withdrawn from the U.S. market because of low sales. Do they even make it anymore?
Given the current economic recession, let's hope Porsche goes ahead and puts into production the small 4-cylinder midengined prototype that shares its chassis with similar sized models from Audi and Volkswagen. Surely Porsche will be able to produce the best of the 4-cylinder sports cars available if they make the effort, an updated spiritual successor to the 356.

Richard
Posted: 10/17/2009 7:39am PDT

I'm with you on the four-cylinder sport: tweaking lower-end tech engines to create higher-tech cars is a good idea for Porsche, and if played properly, could build smartly on the company's brand.
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I have to disagree about the Panamera, though: IMHO, it has little to do with the Porsche that we know and more to do with Porsche's previous goal of taking over the world. It feels overreaching and, more importantly, completely anomalous. From my perspective, the Panamera waters down the Porsche brand and really ought to die sooner than the seven years currently projected (although the platform is welcome to live on).